Extra Mile Podcast: State Senator Joel Carter

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*INTRO MUSIC*

(Paul Katool) That's nearly 2 billion and that's money that's going to be spent on improving safety, enhancing mobility and improving economic growth and development in the state of Mississippi.

(Will) Yeah. And with this historic funding from the legislature, new construction will be popping up all over Mississippi.

(Drew Hall) MDOT presents the Extra Mile Podcast.

(Brad White) Men and women of the Department of Transportation are up to the task and up to make sure that we deliver a product that the taxpayers can be proud of. So I'm ready for us to go to work.

(Paul) Welcome into another edition of the Extra Mile podcast legislative session presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

I'm MDOT Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Paul Katool. And today I'm riding solo. Will Craft is on the road, so we'll make the best of things. We've got a great guest today, a first-time guest. State Senator Joel Carter, who represents District 49 and that that's Harrison County. If you don't know, that is the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

A lot going on on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and he was sworn in office in 2018. Senator Carter, there's a lot going on over at the state capital right now. Thank you for joining us and making time.

(Joel Carter) Hey, man, I appreciate the invitation. You must have a pretty desperate on the list to invite me on the air.

(Paul) No way. No way. We're very excited to talk today. And since we mentioned you are a first time guest, we're gonna hit you with a softball. So kind of tell us a little bit about your background briefly, kind of how you got into politics.

(Joel) So I kind of fell into this actually was having this conversation with someone last night.

Yeah, I originally wanted to go to law school and was a political science major, and I had to work in a restaurant and, and those tend to be late nights. Well, political, political science classes started at eight o'clock in the morning and it was rough. And as time went on, someone approached me in the restaurant and was talking about restaurant management and how they offered a hospitality management degree and ended up changing my major and getting a degree in hospitality management and spent 15 years in the restaurant business. Back in, what was it? When, when the real estate market kind of was about 15 when the real estate market started coming back, I was burnt out.

I mean, the restaurant industry is a real, real tough industry to work in. And So I went and got my real estate license and opened up a brokerage in Gulfport and got into the real estate business, which is still have a, still currently in but My predecessor, Sean Tyndall, now Commissioner Tyndall, I mean, he's, he holds many titles, Judge Tyndall, Prosecutor Tyndall, Senator Tyndall, now Commissioner Tyndall.

He approached me one day at the office and he had been appointed to court appeals by then Governor Bryant. He's like, look, my Senate seats coming up and you need to run for it. And I was like, man, I don't, there's no way I don't, I don't do politics. I don't do politics. I did it. And that's where I ended up.

We won, and it was a special election. We won the first round, and that's what led me here. I mean, I'm in my seventh year of service now. I don't regret any, any moment of it. It's been a very eye-opening experience. Most people, I mean, you get caught in everyday life. You don't understand how the government works.

And I mean, it takes, it takes very strong leadership to make things move forward. And I'm honored to represent a big part of Mississippi that generates a lot of revenue for the state and leadership's importance.

(Paul) No doubt. It's really cool to see all the things that are happening on the Mississippi Gulf Coast right now.

And I did want to back up a little bit, just kind of talking with someone today. Me and Will talk about this. You got your start in the restaurant industry. That is a great place to get a career started. There are so many different kinds of skills that you pick up there and you can carry on kind of in your next steps of life, no doubt, right?

(Joel) Well, you talk about hospitality management, I mean, when you're working in the legislature, it's all about relationships. Sure. So, it's having the ability to communicate with different folks and, and, and people of different race, ethnicities and different backgrounds, just everyone communicates differently.

And having that hospitality management background has been, been very, very awesome for me.

(Paul) No doubt. Everyone should do it. I know that's kind of a cliche thing to say, but it's true. So, speaking of that, you are a chairman of the Energy Committee. And we'd like to know kind of what's going on with that committee right now.

(Joel) So we just finished up broadband. We, that was consumed the last four years of my life. All the federal money that came down after COVID, we created the office of broadband. And when I say we, I'm talking about me and Chairman Bounds in the House. He's, we have a new chairman now, but of public utilities, but we dealt with broadband our last four years.

Now we're trying to refocus on what future energy policy looks like for the state. Energy, when you talk about energy. Energy and economic development, they directly correlate with each other. I mean, if you don't have energy, you cannot create new businesses in the state. So, what we're trying to do is we've been looking at small modular reactors.

They've become very popular in Europe. And so we've been looking at, there's, they don't have them in the states yet. We're looking at that technology. We're trying to figure out the companies that actually produce these things. What can we do to incentivize production in the state of Mississippi? We want to be the leader of energy production.
And so that's really what we've been focusing on this session and will continue to focus on for the next four years.

(Paul) Oh, wow. So what kind of a timetable would that be if it kind of got the green light? Like, how long would it take to get things rolling with nuclear?

(Joel) So talking to the energy companies, I think we're 7 to 10 years out.

But I mean, if we can get the assembly, the parts assembly and all that stuff manufactured here in Mississippi, we could lead the industry. So that's what we're really focused on right now.

(Paul) Oh, that's amazing. It'll be really cool to kind of keep up with future happenings on nuclear for sure.

So just you know, lots of things going on in the legislature right now. I know we don't have to get into too deep, but kind of what are the main kind of topics over there right now?

(Joel) All right. Now, I mean, you can see the headlines, Medicaid expansion. There's a debate on that. It's a partisan issue.

So the Senate position and the House position are very, very different. And then you have the retirement system that's having some issues right now. It's a little, it's got 57 percent unfunded liability and it's, I mean, it's in, it's in trouble. We're going to have to do something about it.

I don't know what that solution is, but we're trying to work it out right now.

(Paul) Gotcha. Definitely, definitely a lot going on right now. And then Obviously on the highways and transportation committee, a lot going on with that. But let's get kind of local. So there's a lot of projects going on in Mississippi Gulf Coast.

What are you kind of keeping your eyes on when it comes to transportation down there in the district?

(Joel) Man, if we, Highway 49, if we could some way figure out the main thing that this state is missing. It's an interstate from the port of Gulfport to Jackson. Highway 49, it's just a, it's a choke hold and it's, it's a huge, huge opportunity for us.

So any way we can create a relief valve on that highway and this is what we focus on. So yeah. Obviously, I-10 is a huge opportunity for us. It's a main corridor from the east coast to the west coast. There's a lot of maintenance and a lot of opportunity there as well.

(Paul) Absolutely, absolutely. I know a lot of people are looking for it. I know it's not in your district, but the Buc-ee's is going to be there soon enough. Have you ever been to a Buc-ee's?

(Joel) So I've been to the one Orange Beach and every time I go to Orange Beach, I stop at the Buc-ee's and load up on beef jerky.

You've got to, the beef jerky, you got to get the beef jerky if you go to Buc ee's. Obviously, the brisket sandwich is good too. I mean, what's not good at Buc-ee's?

(Paul) That's what I've heard. And so me and Will, we're hoping that once it opens up, they'll let us do an episode from the Buc-ee's, you know, done a lot of work on I-10.

So maybe they'll, maybe they'll help us out there. For sure. That would be great. Okay. So, Any other projects kind of going on in the area?

(Joel) I mean there's a lot of development especially on the I-10 corridor. Gulfport received a bunch of money for a frontage road where the sportsplex is to 49.

If you look at what's happened over in the D'Iberville area with all that development north of I 10, Gulfport's trying to do the same thing. Some of the same stuff. So I mean, there's just opportunity everywhere down there. Unfortunately interest rates are so high. I think a lot of developers are just kind of just waiting it out.

See what's gonna happen with this economy

(Paul) Sure. Sure. And then kind of outside of transportation. I mean, you know, obviously Katrina was a terrible thing and the coast has had to build back. It seems like the coast has really hit its stride. Can you kind of speak to that? What all is going on down there?

(Joel) Yeah. So in 2005 I had just, we, me and my wife at the time had twins that were eight months old. We lost everything to Katrina. So It was like a blank canvas before Katrina case was super outdated and a lot of just worn down buildings, especially on Highway 90. We have a clean slate after Katrina. It's the silver lining.

I guess you could say it was devastating. It was a terrible thing to go through. But at the end of the day, looking back on it now, I mean, it was, it gave us, it gave us a clean, like I said it blank canvas. So there's been a bunch of development down there. A lot of housing is coming back and you're starting to see new businesses.

But it's, it's, it's flourishing down there right now.

(Paul) Definitely, definitely love to get down there. I still want to make it down to the aquarium. I heard that's a really cool place to check out. Alright, so we've kind of put you through the wringer with all the, you know, political questions. So we like to end the show with some fun questions.

First of all, obviously as a legislator, you're, you're traveling up to Jackson. So you're hitting some spots to eat. Where are some of your favorite spots to eat?

(Joel) Oh, I'm gonna give a shout out to Mark Shapley. Shapley's man. That's a, that's a, he makes a mean steak. And then if you, I've got my own little special dish there.

(Paul) Okay. Do tell.

(Joel) Okay, so what it is, it's a bed of angel hair pasta. They put their the pan seared trout on top of it and then the crawfish cream sauce on top. It's amazing.

(Paul) That is decadent and depraved. Gonna have to make it over there right off county line, right?

(Joel) Yeah, you're gonna have to, I mean, it's a lot of calories now, so you're gonna have to, you're gonna have to eat light during the day.

(Paul) Absolutely. Well, it's bulking season, so it'll be alright. It's always bulking season in Mississippi. For sure. Alright, so, and we got one more for ya. Public Affairs here at MDOT, we're big food people, but then, of course, we love our music too. That's what the Water Cooler Talk is all about. So we were talking before the show a little bit. Tell us about some of your favorite musicians'/concerts that you're looking forward to.

(Joel) So my favorite concert will be a Dave Matthews concert by far. I mean, it's hard to be at a Dave Matthews concert with all the different instruments, I mean, just so talented. Seeing Tracy Lawrence this Thursday night. Amazing. And then I actually received tickets today for my brother for Creed and Three Doors Down, which will bring me back to pretty much junior high days.

So I'm looking forward to that, but the Coliseum on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, they're, they've got a contract with Live Nation and they have, I mean, they just have some fantastic artists coming through there. It's been very, very impressive who they've been able to book. So I love me some live music.

(Paul) That's awesome. Mississippi. We have live music on lockdown. So we're excited. Get down to the coast and check out some music. Senator Carter, we really appreciate you coming in. Any other, any message you want to send out to them, to your constituents before you sign off with us?

(Joel) No, I mean just have faith in, in your local and your statewide elected officials.
We're doing the best we can. It's, it's, it's a tough, tough, tough time right now, but we're making the best of it, working hard for everyone.

(Paul) Absolutely. Appreciate your service to the state. Thank you so much for joining us.

(Joel) Thank you.

(Paul) Yes, sir. All right. So we'll go ahead and wrap things up there. I want to thank our listeners, our viewers for tuning into The Extra Mile podcast.

You can watch and listen to episodes by visiting GoMDOT.com forward/TheExtraMile, be sure to follow us on social media @MississippiDOT is the handle there. We want to thank our producer, our editor, Drew Hall, for holding things down behind the scenes. And remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.